This invention relates to a dog kennel that is mounted in the box of a pick-up truck.
Dogs are occasionally transported in the box of pick-up trucks. Without some restraint there is a chance that dogs will fall out or possibly jump out while the truck is moving. Restraints such as ropes and chains are generally either too confining or they can cause injury to the dog they are intended to protect. Any restraint that encircles the neck of a dog has the potential to cause injury or even death. Such restraints are particularly hazardous to dogs when used in moving vehicles.
Containers with tops, bottoms and four sidewalls are often used when transporting dogs. Many of these containers do not provide sufficient space for a dog to stand and substantially restrict movement. They can also have ventilation problems as well as temperature problems. In the summer dogs can become overheated. In the winter they can freeze. Dogs will often resist going into containers that are too confining. Containers with four walls, a floor and a top that hold multiple dogs and provide some freedom of movement are relatively heavy. Their weight complicates the task of moving them into or out of a truck box. Their size limits or even prevents the transport of other cargo. It may be necessary to remove such containers when transporting other cargo and to leave the dog or dogs at home.
Vehicle mounted kennels have been proposed which employ a pick-up truck box to provide a floor, a portion of the side walls and a portion of the front wall. Such kennels have the advantage of providing space for a dog to stand and move around and to also see where the vehicle is going. Due to the variation in the size and dimensions of pick-up truck boxes these kennels have been custom made for specific truck models by given manufacturers. There are a large number of truck models available on the market today. To custom make a kennel to fit each size and style would be demanding in time and effort and relatively expensive. Such an effort would be complicated by the fact that some truck boxes are equipped with floor protection mats, bed liners that fit under side rails or bed liners with upper flanges that rest on the top rails of box side walls. The variable thickness of floor protection mats and the variations in bed liners complicates the problems by changing the effective inside width and depth of truck boxes. The large numbers of variations has made it very difficult to make a kennel that will fit a large number of pick-up truck boxes without substantial field modifications.
Vehicles are subjected to shaking, vibrations, wind and other forces that tend to damage vehicle mounted kennels. Many of the kennels proposed in the past have had structural problems that have reduced their ability to withstand the forces to which vehicles are subjected. These problems have in some cases endangered dogs. In other cases structural problems have merely reduced the useful life of vehicle mounted kennels.
The dog kennel has a front truss with a front bowed beam and a front horizontal beam connected to the front bowed beam. A rear truss includes a rear bowed beam and a rear horizontal beam connected to the rear bowed beam. A left support plate is fixed to a left end of the front truss and the left end of the truss. A right support plate is fixed to the right end of the front truss and to the right end of the rear truss. A roof panel is attached to the front truss and the rear truss. A rear wall is suspended from the rear truss. During use, the entire kennel is supported by the left support plate and the right support plate.